The scaffolding is up and big plans are coming together for the Palace Theatre in Huddersfield town centre.

As well as showcasing stage acts through the decades, later in its life the imposing building also saw thousands of revellers through the doors as a nightclub.

Did you dance the night away at Club Society or Chicago Rock Cafe?

Our story about the new works to convert the structure into 110 student apartments brought back memories for reader Paul Smith.

Paul posted a series of images on our Facebook page of when he managed to join a Huddersfield Civic Society visit to the closed club two years ago.

He also kindly put together an article on his visit - so see below for pictures from inside the shuttered club and Paul's report

Inside the Palace Theatre

"On entry to the building you're immediately aware of some level of destruction. It's only when the doors close behind you that you realise how awful it is now. Pitch black without any lighting as the scrap thieves have had their fill.

"Chris Marsden, from the society, gave out a warning for us to use our torches which I thought was a bit melodramatic until a few steps in and you see that the floor has gaping holes in it.

"I last went in when it was Chicago Rock with its garish pinks covering the walls and the car sticking out of the wall. Not now.

"We were gingerly led around the bar and up some steps to the first floor. Walls had been ripped apart for the metal and in some places fires set to burn off the plastic. At this point we were pretty much left to our own devices so my friend and I went off for a walk. Years of dust, pigeon droppings and general decay had us worried that the now hidden seating and the balcony would give way.

The bar area inside the former Parish Theatre
The bar area inside the former Parish Theatre


"Windows were smashed throughout the building and the roof hatch was open so everything was damp, smelly and rotting."

Paul said the building was full of smashed furniture and smelt of waste.

He said: "The scene in the cellar toilets and offices was no better. Graffiti daubed across the walls and ransacked offices showed that some wayward individuals had enjoyed their illicit meanderings through the maze of rooms.

"It was bizarre seeing the destruction of the building as a whole but then also signs of its grandiose past; the original curtain running gear is still in place as well as various murals painted on walls throughout and signs of fine plaster work. The offices, whilst ransacked, contained some furniture, a huge safe and, bizarrely, stacks of VHS cassettes from the security system.

"Clearly everyone had given up on the building and even if it's going to be student flats it will be nice for it to be resurrected rather than demolished as is the case with a lot of historically relevant buildings in Huddersfield and Halifax."

Plans for the building show 15 studio apartments and a ground floor bar with 19 studios on each of the remaining five floors.

The building's facade and parts of the exterior structure will remain and the lantern roof will also be reinstated.

As well as our look around the former Palace Theatre, we've also been into the former Heaven and Hell club in the Co-operative Building on New Street - see inside that one here.